Tarvaris Jackson, Alex Smith both with plenty to prove this season

RENTON — Tarvaris Jackson needed a change of scenery before his attempted renaissance.

Alex Smith’s new beginning didn’t even require him to pack a suitcase.

The Seahawks and 49ers play each other at 1 p.m. Sunday in the regular season opener for both teams. That much we know. What remains a mystery is what each of these teams will look like this season, since last year’s games certainly can’t be used as much of a barometer. Not with a new quarterback and new offensive coordinator in Seattle. And not with a brand new coaching staff in San Francisco.

But what we do know? Jackson and Smith, the respective quarterbacks of each team, are entering seasons that could be career-defining. Each has been given a chance before. Each has been an easy target for disgruntled fans. Each feels the need to prove themselves worthy of being a starting quarterback in the NFL.

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Can Alex Smith resurrect his career under Jim Harbaugh? (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Can Alex Smith resurrect his career under Jim Harbaugh? (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

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Jackson came to Seattle for another shot at being a starter. Smith didn't have to leave San Francisco to get a fresh start, as he's playing for a new coaching staff this year. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez) less

Jackson came to Seattle for another shot at being a starter. Smith didn't have to leave San Francisco to get a fresh start, as he's playing for a new coaching staff this year. (AP Photo/Barry ... more

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Smith had his best game ever, in terms of passer rating, against the Seahawks last season. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Smith had his best game ever, in terms of passer rating, against the Seahawks last season. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

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Jackson will start his first regular season game as a Seahawk on Sunday. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Jackson will start his first regular season game as a Seahawk on Sunday. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

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Smith is in a similar situation as Tarvaris Jackson, who also sought a new beginning. Smith just didn't have to change teams to get it. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Smith is in a similar situation as Tarvaris Jackson, who also sought a new beginning. Smith just didn't have to change teams to get it. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Photo: AP

Tarvaris Jackson, Alex Smith both with plenty to prove this season

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They’ve just taken different paths to this point. Jackson spent five years toiling in Minnesota, victim the past two seasons to the Brett Favre saga. He came to Seattle for the chance to be a starter again, and was deemed as such before he ever practiced here.

Smith’s story is perhaps more angst-ridden. He’s playing for his fourth head coach in seven seasons. He played for three different offensive coordinators his first three years in the league. He’s struggled mightily at times — 49ers fans booed him early in San Francisco’s 40-21 win over Seattle last season — and has battled multiple shoulder injuries.

Yet here he is, again entering the season as the team’s starting quarterback after signing a one-year, $5 million contract this offseason, much to the surprise of a good lot of folks who assumed Smith would have rather left the 49ers as a distant memory.

New San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh was asked why he wanted to bring Smith back into an environment that had been so unkind to him thus far.

“Well,” Harbaugh said, “just in a nutshell, I thought it was the best thing for our team.”

Ringing endorsement. Is Smith surprised to be back?

“I mean, at this point, we’re in the thick of it and I’m getting ready to play so I’m not thinking about that,” Smith said on a conference call this week. “But yeah, I think before football started back up and then coming back here maybe, but that was a long time ago. A lot has passed since then.”

But one thing that likely hasn’t passed is the vitriol from his own fans. That tide can only be turned with solid play. And the same can be said for Jackson, whose credentials as a starter have been questioned since the day it became known that he was being pursued by the Seahawks.

His preseason performance hasn’t done anything to quell the vitriol, though a level-headed observer must note that Johnny Unitas himself would have had a pretty hard time completing passes behind the Seahawks’ offensive line.

“It’s a tough situation to come into, with Matt (Hasselbeck) leaving, and so much criticism and ridicule for a guy who has yet to really have a shot and play,” said receiver Mike Williams. “It’s kind of unbelievable. If it’s overwhelming for a teammate, then it has to be just about enough for him. I just kind of want to tell everybody to back the hell up. Let him play, let him have his shot to work and go out here and do his thing.”

Jackson’s ready to do that.

“We’ve got more and more comfortable with each other as far as making calls and guys are getting more and more comfortable making calls,” Jackson said of his relationship with the offensive line, which allowed seven sacks of Jackson in the preseason. “We’re more on the same page. We make sure that we communicate a lot better. That’s kind of helped a lot in making sure everybody knows we’re going the same direction.”

Even though Jackson still has everything to prove after a lackluster half-decade in Minnesota, he at least appears to have the attention of Seattle’s locker room. Seahawks players voted Jackson their offensive captain, which means something for a guy who signed six weeks ago and is replacing the most storied quarterback in franchise history.

Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who held the same position in Minnesota the past five seasons, said there’s a difference in the way Jackson carries himself here.

“I think he’s playing with more confidence,” Bevell said. “He feels the belief of the people around him, whether it’s the coaching staff, whether it’s the players, and again going back to that captain thing. I think that speaks volumes for him. I do see that.”